Reactions pour after Gordhan reveals he met Guptas at
meeting arranged by Zuma

A leaked statement confirms Pravin Gordhan saw and greeted some of the Gupta family members at government events.

FILE: Minister Pravin Gordhan. Picture: Cindy Archillies/EWN

JOHANNESBURG – Reaction has been pouring in following Pravin Gordhan‘s revelation that he has met the Gupta family before in a meeting that was arranged by former President Jacob Zuma.

The leaked statement confirms he saw and greeted some of the Gupta family members at government events.

In the statement, the minister says the state capture commission asked him whether he has met the Gupta family before.

He says he’s never been to the family’s Saxonwald compound or accepted their invitation to the infamous Sun City wedding.

But he confirms he was introduced to Ajay Gupta when he started his term as Finance Minister by Zuma at the presidential guest house, the man he says Zuma described as a friend.

The minister says they only exchanged pleasantries.

He also details how he attended a meeting with an Indian businessman who wanted to buy a stake in Eskom, a meeting he says was insisted on by Tony Gupta.

But while he says his former chief of staff and current Treasury director-general Dondo Mogajane advised him that he remembers that Ajay was present at that meeting, the minister says doesn’t recall the Gupta brother being there.

The EFF has since released a statement accusing Gordhan of complicity in state capture, calling on him to tell nothing but the truth when he appears before the state capture commission next week.